According to information released by Statistics Estonia on Wednesday, this April, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased by 1% on year at constant prices, totaling €560.4 million.

The turnover of stores selling manufactured goods increased by 7% compared to April 2017. Turnover increased in most economic activities, except in stores selling second-hand goods and in non-store retail sale (including stalls, markets, direct sale), where turnover was smaller than in April 2017.

Turnover increased the most in pharmacies and stores selling cosmetics, where sales increased 13% year on year. A higher than average increase in turnover occurred also in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials (11% growth) and in stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear (8% growth).

The turnover of grocery stores, meanwhile, decreased by 4% compared to April 2017. These stores' drop in turnover was associated with the high reference base of April 2017 as well as the continuing price increase of food products.

The turnover of enterprises engaged in retail sales of automotive fuel, which increased in February and March, started falling in April, decreasing 4% compared to April of the previous year. A contributing factor was acceleration in the price increase of automotive fuel.

Compared to the previous month, the turnover of retail trade enterprises in April decreased by 1%. According to seasonally and working-day adjusted data, the decrease totaled 2%. In the first four months of 2018, i.e. from January through April, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased by 1% on the same period of the previous year.